Saturday, 24 December 2016

Information coming out of the once-proud Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) again proves that it approached the most radical change to the national census of population and housing with an almost complete lack of understanding of the mood of the populace1.

Currently ABS alleges that the national census response rate exceeds 96 per cent - comprising over 4.9 million online forms and over 3.5 million paper forms representing 8.4 million households/dwellings.

A rather strange statement by the Bureau, given it previously stated in the lead up to the census that it expected to survey close to 10 million dwellingsand afterwardsthat there were exactly 9.8 million dwellings within the survey pool.

The failure to genuinely meet response rate requirements being papered over by the many personal forms in addition to the household ones [Senate Economics References Committee, 24 November 2016, inquiry report, 2016 Census: issues of trust, p.80]. Presumably these personal forms were official census forms which stated the person was in transit (travellers, homeless, & hospital patients)– all est.1.2 million of them if the deliberately vague assertion of the Bureau is to be believed.

The next public confidence hurdle for the failed 9 August 2016 Census comes when preliminary population and dwelling counts are released in April 2017 – given that so many people are aware of friends or acquaintances who deliberately refused to supply name and/or address or filled in their census forms with inaccurate or misleading information in an attempt to avoid having their genuine personal information retained by the federal government indefinitely in a national database for as yet unstated or unexplained purposes.

A breakdown of costs released on Thursday shows that $482,000 of the Australian funding was spent on professional fees and services including research, “outreach” and forums.

About $146,000 was spent on travel in an ambitious global project convening seminars to discuss the UN development goals in Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and New York.

The project formed the basis of Lomborg’s book The Nobel Laureates’ Guide to the Smartest Targets for the World, which is not widely available in Australian shops.

Documents released under freedom of information show the department only entered a formal agreement to fund the project as late as 21 March 2016. Based on those documents and answers provided by the education department it appears the government did not have any ongoing commitment to the project when the Australian Consensus Centre was canned in June 2015.

The government’s plan to establish the Australian Consensus Centre was put into effect in an agreement with the University of Western Australia (UWA) dated 24 March 2015.

But on 26 June 2015 the government and UWA terminated the agreement by consent because the university rejected the funds after a public backlash. The agreement created an obligation for the government to pay UWA’s reasonable costs, but did not create obligations to the CCC.

An education department spokeswoman told Guardian Australia no payments were made to UWA under the agreement.

In September 2015 it was referred to in an incoming ministerial brief to Turnbull’s pick for education minister, Simon Birmingham.

“The department has negotiated a funding agreement which will provide a one-off payment to the CCC for a total of $640,000 to cover costs incurred in relation to the establishment of the Australian Consensus Centre prior to the decision to cancel this project,” it said.

When Guardian Australia asked for a copy of the “funding agreement” with the CCC referred to in the briefing, the education department provided the 21 March 2016 agreement.

An education department spokeswoman said “payments were undertaken in accordance with the government’s funding agreement with UWA and the memorandum of understanding between UWA and the CCC”.

The department did not directly respond to questions about how an agreement between the government and UWA and a the memorandum between UWA and the CCC could create legal obligations between the department and the CCC.

If there was another legal obligation to pay the CCC, such as an equitable duty, the education department did not identify it after detailed questions, nor identify its source.

Neither the education department nor Birmingham explained why a new grant agreement was struck on 21 March 2016 if all or part of the $640,000 was owed by the commonwealth for some pre-existing legal obligation……

The ABC will end its
shortwave transmission service in the Northern Territory and to international
audiences from 31 January 2017.

The move is in line with
the national broadcaster’s commitment to dispense with outdated technology and
to expand its digital content offerings including DAB+ digital radio, online
and mobile services, together with FM services for international audiences.

The majority of ABC
audiences in the Northern Territory currently access ABC services via AM and FM
and all ABC radio and digital radio services are available on the VAST
satellite service.

ABC International’s
shortwave services currently broadcast to PNG and the Pacific. Savings realised
through decommissioning this service will be reinvested in a more robust FM
transmitter network and an expanded content offering for the region that will
include English and in-language audio content.

Michael Mason, ABC’s
Director of Radio said, “While shortwave technology has served audiences well
for many decades, it is now nearly a century old and serves a very limited
audience. The ABC is seeking efficiencies and will instead service this
audience through modern technology”.

The ABC, working
alongside SBS, is planning to extend its digital radio services in Darwin and
Hobart, and to make permanent its current digital radio trial in Canberra.
Extending DAB+ into the nation’s eight capital cities will ensure ABC digital
radio services can reach an additional 700,000 people, increasing the overall
reach of ABC digital radio to 60% of the Australian population.

ABC Radio is also
investigating transmission improvements to address reception gaps in the
existing five DAB+ markets. It aims to ensure a resilient DAB+ service in every
capital city, with enhanced bitrates and infill where necessary.

“Extending our DAB+
offer will allow audiences in every capital city in Australia equal access to
our digital radio offering, as well as representing an ongoing broadcast cost
saving owing to lower transmission costs,” added Michael Mason.

ABC International’s
Chief Executive Officer Lynley Marshall said the reinvestment from closing
international shortwave services would maximise the ABC’s broadcast
capabilities in the region.

“In considering how best
to serve our Pacific regional audiences into the future we will move away from
the legacy of shortwave radio distribution,” Ms Marshall said. “An ever-growing
number of people in the region now have access to mobile phones with FM
receivers and the ABC will redirect funds towards an extended content offering
and a robust FM distribution network to better serve audiences into the
future.”

An Indigenous ranger
group in the Northern Territory says the ABC's decision to end its shortwave
radio service could be life threatening.

The ABC announced this
week its three HF shortwave radio transmitters at Katherine, Tennant Creek and
Roe Creek (Alice Springs), would be switched off on January 31, 2017.

ABC Radio will continue
to broadcast on FM and AM bands, via the viewer access satellite television
(VAST) service, streaming online and via the mobile phone application.

Mark Crocombe from the
Thamarrurr Rangers, in the remote community of Wadeye, said the rangers spent
days and sometimes weeks at a time away in the bush and out on sea patrols.

He said the group relied
on the ABC's shortwave radio for weather reports and emergency information.

"Otherwise you have
to call back to the base on the HF radio to ask people [there], but then you
can't listen to the report yourself, you are relying on someone else's
second-hand report," Mr Crocombe said.

Mr Crocombe said on
previous bush trips he had received warnings of cyclones via the ABC's
shortwave service, without which he would not have had any notice.

"Sure, it is
expensive to keep the shortwave radio service going, but during cyclones, for
the bush camps and people on boats, that is their only way of getting the
weather reports," he said.

"It could be life
threatening, if you are out and you don't know a cyclone is coming."

Mr Crocombe said the
VAST service did not work during cloudy weather, especially during monsoons and
cyclones.

"The VAST satellite
dish is fixed to your house, we are working in the field, and when we are on
the boats we are not in mobile phone range, so applications and VAST do not
work in the bush," he said……

The national broadcaster
said in a statement on Tuesday the move was in line with its "commitment
to dispense with outdated technology and to expand its digital content offerings."

But the announcement was
met with anger by the Northern Territory Cattleman's Association.

President Tom Stockwell,
who lives on Sunday Creek Station with no access to AM or FM radio or mobile
phone coverage, said the ABC's decision to focus on digital transmission
ignored people in the bush.

"It affects a big
area of Australia and it affects those people that are remote from other forms
of communication that rely on radio network," he said.

"The ABC argument that
it's a 100-year-old technology doesn't stack up. Electricity is 100-years-old —
is the ABC going to get rid of electricity as well?

"Anybody who's
remote and away from a satellite dish won't get local radio, won't get
emergency radio, won't get emergency messages and they're going to use the
money to put in another digital platform for crying out loud.

“Rod Culleton is a pain in my backside. I am glad to see the back of him.”

Senator Hanson said she had not asked him to resign previously, and said she would stick by him. But now she’s changed her tune.

“He asked if I wanted him to resign. Previously, with his legal cases, he has asked if I wanted him to resign. I have said that I would stick by him, but this time I said yes because I believe that he did not comply with section 44, section 2 of the Australian Constitution.”

She added that he had been asking for money from the party.

“That is what he is angry about. He is going to court today for bankruptcy. He is trying to get the money for that,” she said…..

He accused Senator Hanson and her chief of staff of trying to force him to resign and wielding control over his office.

“The PHON leader’s rants against me have been accompanied by demands for my resignation and control over diaries, office management and staffing by Senator Hanson and her chief of staff, James Ashby,” he said. “The irrational dictates have caused only distrust and disunity.”

The embattled senator is facing legal battles, including one case before the High Court, which could render him ineligible as a parliamentarian.

Now that Donald John Trump has been certified by at least 270 of the 538 members the US Electoral College, there is no getting away from the fact that come 20 January 2017 the most powerful nation in the world will be ruled by an incredibly ignorant man with an inflated opinion of his own abilities.

Trump has said of himself “I went to an Ivy League school, I’m very highly educated, I know words, I have the best words.”

One has to wonder if family wealth purchased his college degree, because his command of the English language is nothing short of woeful for a college graduate.

His grammar and word choice appears never to have developed beyond that of the average eight to nine year-old Australian child while his spelling is best described as highly erratic.

However his spelling gives the game away. He is not faking ignorance, he is ignorant.

Anyone could be forgiven these typos – after all who hasn’t suffered from ‘fat thumb’:

However, errors such as these indicate a man who never really learned the basics:

Unpresidented for unprecedented, waite for wait, rediculous instead of ridiculous, Phillies for Phyllis, creats instead of creates, there for their and moch for mock, all give the general impression that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump rarely has the best words.

Wednesday, 21 December 2016

Adani Mining Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of India's largest coal trader the Adani Group, intends to dig an enormous hole in the ground costing over $16 billion and the odd billion or two it can extract from gullible federal and state governments in Australia.

This hole known as the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project will comprise six open-cut pits and five underground mines; supported by five mine infrastructure areas, a coal handling and processing plant, a heavy industrial area, water-supply infrastructure, 189-kilometres of rail line (Adani has applied for a $1 billion loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund to build the rail link), as well as off-site infrastructure including a workers' accommodation village and airport.

All of this running roughly parallel with the Great Barrier Reef and the Abbott Point port required to ship all this coal overseas at considerable risk to fresh water security, coral sustainability and marine biodiversity.

To facilitate
its aim of environmental vandalism for corporate profit the Adani Group has registered the following
companies which are all currently operating out of an office tower in Eagle Street,
Brisbane:

Abbot Point
Operations Pty Ltd

Adani Abbot
Point Company Pty Ltd

Adani Abbot
Point Holding Trust

Adani Abbot
Point Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd

Adani Abbot
Point Terminal Pty Ltd

Adani
Australia Coal Terminal Finance Company Pty Ltd

Adani
Australia Coal Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd

Adani
Australia Coal Terminal Pty Ltd

Adani
Australia Company Pty Ltd

Adani
Australia Holding Trust

Adani
Minerals Pty Ltd

Adani Mining
Pty Ltd

Carmichael
Rail Finance Company Pty Ltd

Carmichael
Rail Holdings Pty Ltd

Carmichael
Rail Network Holdings Pty Ltd

Carmichael
Rail Network Holdings Trust

Carmichael
Rail Network Pty Ltd

Carmichael
Rail Network Trust

Carmichael
Rail Pty Ltd

Carmichael
Rail Pty Ltd

Galilee
Transmission Holdings Pty Ltd

Galilee
Transmission Holdings Trust

Galilee
Transmission Pty Ltd

Mundra Port
Holding Trust

Mundra Port
Holdings Pty Ltd

Mundra Port
Pty Ltd

Juice Media put this mocking video together to let the Adani family and the world know what many people in this country think of this mining scheme.

Finance – There
is a reason the Galilee Basin has been left undeveloped for the past 50 years.
For a start, it's close to 500 kilometres from ports on the coast, meaning
whoever is going to build the project has to outlay billions of dollars to get
the project built. And the quality of the coal is not as good as others in the
closer Bowen and Surat Basin.

India's Adani Group also
has to find $10 billion to finance the project. There are also questions raised
about whether the project is economically viable after a plunge in the coal
price following the end of the coal boom. But even though the price of thermal
coal has recovered to above $100 a tonne in recent months, it is less relevant
because Adani is using the coal for its own power stations rather than selling
to other customers. The Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis
director Tim Buckley – a vocal critic of the project – says Adani's
parent company is struggling with current market capitalisation of equity at
$US1.1 billion, against which it has net debts of $US2.4 billion.

Environmentalists – Adani's
Carmichael project has become the lightning rod for anti-fossil fuel activists
and environmentalists who want to stop the building of any new coal mines in
Australia. It also fits into the narrative about Australia's changing energy
mix – from one dominated by coal and gas to renewable energy such as wind and
solar. Environmentalists claim the extra coal exports will damage the
World Heritage-protected Great Barrier Reef, although it has received
environmental approval from both state and federal governments. As
the Turnbull government releases its 2017 climate review this week, the
argument over the Adani mega-mine also ties in with the debate about
whether Australia,- which has one of the largest emissions per capita,- should
be building another large coal mine that will release more greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere.

Well-funded and
media-savvy environmental groups have also been very effective in targeting
banks about lending to the Carmichael mine. Some banks, under pressure to make
sure they look like good corporate citizens, have promised not to lend to any
future coal mines.

Legal activism – One
of the reasons the project has been progressing at a snail's place the past
seven years is because environmental and Indigenous groups have used the legal
system to their advantage and challenged virtually every aspect of the project.
The mining lease, environmental authority, and native title have been
challenged by a range of parties, including the Australian Conservation
Foundation, little-known group Coast & Country as well as Indigenous group,
the Wangan and Jagalingou. They have successfully held up the project,
resulting in the former Abbott government threatening to change the laws to
make it harder to challenge big mining projects.

Last month, two
legal challenges were thrown out of court, leaving three appeals – two
before the full bench of the Federal Court over the Environmental Protection
and Biodiversity Act and native title, and there is also a judicial review of
Adani's port expansion at Abbot Point which has been brought by local
residents in the Whitsundays – before the project can be given the green
light.

Scandal – The Adani Group has been plagued by allegations of
corruption surrounding its projects in India. Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani
is one of India's richest men, whose personal wealth was valued at $7.1 billion
in 2014 by Forbes magazine. There have been allegations of
environmental vandalism in relation to the development of the Port of Mundra,
which is owned by Adani, as well as claims of tax evasion. Adani's Australian
chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj has also been dragged into the scandal
by failing to disclose his history running a mining company in Africa that
pleaded guilty to serious economic harm. So far, none of these allegations have
failed to bring down any of Adani's executives, but it adds to the controversy
over the project.

Giant Indian conglomerate Adani, which plans to build one of the world's largest coal mines in Queensland's Galilee Basin, has set up a complex network of companies and trusts in Australia which are owned in one of the world's major tax havens, the Cayman Islands.

The Adani Group is also attempting to shift ownership of the existing Abbot Point coal port — which it bought for $1.8 billion — to a Singaporean company ultimately owned in the Cayman Islands.

An exhaustive search of company filings and documents across the globe has cast light on this opaque structure of ownership and control.

It has alarmed environmental activists and legal experts, who fear it could make it harder to gain compensation from Adani in the event of an environmental disaster from Adani's planned mine and port expansion on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

"I've been a businessman for most of my life, as well as an environmental activist, and the risks are great," said Geoff Cousins, former Optus CEO and chairman of the George Paterson advertising agency, now a board member of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

"With these kinds of approvals of big mining operations or port operations, you always get a set of conditions that the Government puts on.

"But those conditions aren't worth anything if, when something goes wrong, you try to find the company responsible and either it has no money or if it has money it's in a tax haven and you can't reach it."

It is a view echoed by David Chaikin, a professor of business law at the University of Sydney.

"The advantage of having the money in tax havens is that you are able to conceal the source of money, the use of money, and also to minimise tax," he said…..

Adani has created four companies and two trusts in Australia for the rail project.

The parent company for all these entities is Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, a company registered in Singapore where the corporate tax rate is 15 per cent.

This Singapore parent company is in turn owned by Atulya Resources Limited, a private company controlled by the Adani family and based in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands……

Adani has created four companies and two trusts in Australia for the rail project.

The parent company for all these entities is Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, a company registered in Singapore where the corporate tax rate is 15 per cent.

This Singapore parent company is in turn owned by Atulya Resources Limited, a private company controlled by the Adani family and based in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

The vast expansion of the coal port planned by Adani has sparked enormous controversy.

It will involve dredging 1.1 million tonnes of spoil from the ocean near the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and poses a potential danger to the environmentally-sensitive reef, which is listed on the World Heritage Register.

Critics say the company structure set up by Adani raises serious concerns about the value of strict environmental approvals placed on the project.

Ownership of the existing Abbot Point Coal Terminal is in limbo.

Adani bought a 99-year lease over the coal port in 2011 for $1.8 billion through a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (AZPEZ).

That company said it "sold" the port three years ago to a Singaporean-based Adani family company "subject to regulatory and lenders approvals".

But the sale has not been completed, because of objections by the State Bank of India, which lent Adani $US800 million ($1.1 billion) for the port purchase.

In its latest filings with the Australian corporate watchdog, Adani still lists the port as being owned by the Bombay-listed company.

But ASPEZ's 2016 annual report said it had "recorded the divestment" of the port to Abbot Point Port Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore: an entity which lists as its sole director Vinod Shantilal Adani, the brother of Guatam Adani, head of the Adani Group, and which is ultimately owned by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

Transferring ownership of the critical port infrastructure to a Caymans Islands' company "means it will be unregulated, unaccountable," Tim Buckley, director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analytics told the ABC.

"It will be non-transparent to the Australian Government as to what is going on, who owns it, who are the directors. To me it is a matter of national security."

Companies and trusts created by Adani for the proposed Carmichael mine are ultimately owned by Adani Enterprises, a publicly-listed company in India, but the control flows via a company registered in the tax haven of Mauritius, Adani Global Ltd.

Adani Global Ltd. is based at Suite 501 St James Court, St Denis Street in Port Louis, Mauritius, and since 1998 has operated as a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited which was incorporated in March 1993 as Adani Exports Ltd with the name change effected in 2007.

On 14 October
2015 the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment granted approval of 'controlled
action' subject to conditions following re-consideration of project under
the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

In 2014 Adani and Posco had agreed to build rail line in Australia and the following year Adani signed an MoU with Australia's Woodside Energy for Energy Cooperation.

Adani welcomes court decisions Adani Group today welcomed decisions by the Queensland Supreme Court to dismiss activist lead appeals against the granting of a Mining Lease and an Environmental Authority in relation to the company’s planned $21 billion coal project. The company said the decisions were further positive steps towards starting work in the September Quarter 2017 on the Carmichael Mine in central western Queensland and associated projects – a near-400km rail line and port expansion at Abbott Point. Adani said it would now examine the full decision documents and make no further comment.

Adani Enterprises Ltd is aiming to start production at its $16 billion integrated mining project in Australia by end of 2020, after facing a four-year delay because of stiff resistance from environmental groups.

In an interview, group chairman Gautam Adani brushed aside concerns about the group’s indebtedness and said it was looking at investment opportunities in sectors such as defence, coal conversions and water. He added that the group continues to explore opportunities in the mining sector as it looks at an integrated “pit-to-plug” strategy encompassing mines, rail and the port sector.

The Carmichael mines in Galilee, Australia, will produce about 25 million tonnes of coal a year in fiscal 2021. The group has invested close to $4.5 billion in the first phase, Adani said. It is planning to use the coal to fuel its Mundra and Udupi power plants.

Adani also said he sees the ports business—one of the group’s most successful ventures so far—to meet its target of setting up 200 million tonnes of cargo handling capacity by the end of 2018, two years before schedule.

An interesting snippet from Australian Newspaper History Group, Newsletter, No 90, December 2016, pp.

90.1.3 China (1): Supplement to SMH and Age

On 23 September both the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age carried an eight-page supplement entitled China Watch, which contained China news and views.

The supplement clearly indicated that it had been prepared by the China Daily and that there had been no editorial involvement by the Sydney Morning Herald and Age.

This follows a precedent where in recent years the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age have regularly carried similar sponsored supplements containing news and views of Russia.

90.1.4 China (2): Australian media

Yan Xia, the editor of Vision China Times, a Chinese-language newspaper published in Australia, says a Beijing-based immigration agency was forced to pull an advertisement from his paper because it was regarded as an “anti-China” paper (Australian, 10 October 2016). The Ministry of State Security, the agency in charge of counter-intelligence and political security, had allegedly harassed the agent.

Yan Xia said, “Our lost client illustrates but one of the mounting pressures faced by independent Chinese media in Australia. Tensions have heightened over recent months, with Australia’s Chinese media under pressure to support President Xi Jinping and Beijing’s foreign policy. That pressure is part of China’s exercise in ‘soft power’. Broadly speaking, there are three types of Chinese-language media in Australia.

“The first consists of those that rely on the Chinese government and Chinese commercial ties for revenue. These outlets tend to echo and take their cues from state-run mouthpieces. The second group consists of media directed by religious groups aiming to expose China’s political, educational and socio-economic situation while promoting human rights and religious freedom. And the third is independent of political and religious influence. Its reporting is largely in line with the ideals of Western mainstream media and generally gives holistic views of Canberra’s policies and sentiments.

“Our outfit fits this last category. While independent media outlets are standard in the West, a one-party state cannot accept that media outlets “do not follow directives” and, by its reckoning, do damage to ‘national interests’. In China, national interests are synonyms for ‘the party’s interests’.

“In recent months it appears the Chinese government’s influence in Australia has become more open and, thus, more easily observed. For Chinese media platforms whose goal is to serve as the bridge between the Chinese community and the Australian mainstream, the challenge lies in reporting fairly and accurately on matters of conflict between the two countries. We choose to remain unyielding in our approach, reporting according to Western journalistic ideals. This has been tested during recent times, which have seen a deluge of articles examining issues that Beijing considers unpalatable.”

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
[Adopted and proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948]

NSW North Coast

Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Moggy Musings

Hi! My name is Boy. I'm a male bi-coloured tabby cat. Ever since I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull's dogs were allowed to blog, I have been pestering Clarencegirl to allow me a small space on North Coast Voices.

A false flag musing: I have noticed one particular voice on Facebook which is Pollyanna-positive on the subject of the Port of Yamba becoming a designated cruise ship destination. What this gentleman doesn’t disclose is that, as a principal of Middle Star Pty Ltd, he could be thought to have a potential pecuniary interest due to the fact that this corporation (which has had an office in Grafton since 2012) provides consultancy services and tourismbusiness development services.

A religion & local government musing: On 11 October 2017 Clarence Valley Council has the Church of Jesus Christ Development Fund Inc in Sutherland Local Court No. 6 for a small claims hearing. It would appear that there may be a little issue in rendering unto Caesar. On 19 September 2017 an ordained minister of a religion (which was named by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in relation to 40 instances of historical child sexual abuse on the NSW North Coast) read the Opening Prayer at Council’s ordinary monthly meeting. Earlier in the year an ordained minister (from a church network alleged to have supported an overseas orphanage closed because of child abuse claims in 2013) read the Opening Prayer and an ordained minister (belonging to yet another church network accused of ignoring child sexual abuse in the US and racism in South Africa) read the Opening Prayer at yet another ordinary monthly meeting. Nice one councillors - you are covering yourselves with glory!

An investigative musing: Newcastle Herald, 12 August 2017: The state’s corruption watchdog has been asked to investigate the finances of the Awabakal Aboriginal Local Land Council, less than 12 months after the troubled organisation was placed into administration by the state government. The Newcastle Herald understands accounting firm PKF Lawler made the decision to refer the land council to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after discovering a number of irregularities during an audit of its financial statements.The results of the audit were recently presented to a meeting of Awabakal members. Administrator Terry Lawler did not respond when contacted by the Herald and a PKF Lawler spokesperson said it was unable to comment on the matter. Given the intricate web of company relationships that existed with at least one former board member it is not outside the realms of possibility that, if ICAC accepts this referral, then United Land Councils Limited (registered New Zealand) and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd(registered Australia) might be interviewed. North Coast Voices readers will remember that on 15 August 2015 representatives of these two companied gave evidence before NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY INTO CROWN LAND. This evidence included advocating for a Yamba mega port.

A Nationals musing: Word around the traps is that NSW Nats MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has been talking up the notion of cruise ships visiting the Clarence River estuary. Fair dinkum! That man can be guaranteed to run with any bad idea put to him. I'm sure one or more cruise ships moored in the main navigation channel on a regular basis for one, two or three days is something other regular river users will really welcome. *pause for appreciation of irony* The draft of the smallest of the smaller cruise vessels is 3 metres and it would only stay safely afloat in that channel. Even the Yamba-Iluka ferry has been known to get momentarily stuck in silt/sand from time to time in Yamba Bay and even a very small cruise ship wouldn't be able to safely enter and exit Iluka Bay. You can bet your bottom dollar operators of cruise lines would soon be calling for dredging at the approach to the river mouth - and you know how well that goes down with the local residents.

A local councils musing: Which Northern Rivers council is on a low-key NSW Office of Local Government watch list courtesy of feet dragging by a past general manager?

A serial pest musing: I'm sure the Clarence Valley was thrilled to find that a well-known fantasist is active once again in the wee small hours of the morning treading a well-worn path of accusations involving police, local business owners and others.

An investigative musing: Which NSW North Coast council is batting to have the longest running code of conduct complaint investigation on record?

A which bank? musing: Despite a net profit last year of $9,227 million the Commonwealth Bank still insists on paying below Centrelink deeming rates interest on money held in Pensioner Security Accounts. One local wag says he’s waiting for the first bill from the bank charging him for the privilege of keeping his pension dollars at that bank.

A Daily Examiner musing: Just when you thought this newspaper could sink no lower under News Corp management, it continues to give column space to Andrew Bolt.

A thought to ponder musing: In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?

An adoption musing: Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home. If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766 or your local council pound.